Old Uconn memory

[Martin]

Thanks for all the feedback! Remember people, “the mind is a terrible thing to waste.”

 

[HoopsHype34]

What many forget about the Dream Team is the start of the season -- pre January -- did not show evidence that we had moved forward into a national contender. I remember a loss to some mediocre Texas team in Alaska, being destroyed by St. Johns in Queens and a loss to a very mediocre 'Nova team (I want to say Tom Gries was a huge, mediocre Center who killed us that night) at home. It was only in January that everything clicked and our transformation to a national program begun. Man, those were fun days.

Hmm...could we be in the makings of our own redeem season. Things seem to be lining up this year just like that season.

 

[Waquoit]

Thanks for all the feedback! Remember people, “the mind is a terrible thing to waste.”

"Or not to have a mind is being very wasteful. How true that is."

 

[Hoophound]

It was Dennis Scott With a big game. He had 42 points. GTech won 93-92 in OT. Oliver had 21 points, Kenny Anderson fouled out.

In the UConn/MD game, Chris Smith had 22 points and Mustaf had 25.

 

[Waquoit]

In the UConn/MD game, Chris Smith had 22 points and Mustaf had 25.

How much did UConn win by?

 

[Hoophound]

How much did UConn win by?

87-65

 

[boog204]

87-65

From my memory, that was the first game that we looked legit. We were pressing effectively and the Nadav influence had started to take over. I know I went back and watched that game a few years ago through Tcf and it was either Raftery or Vitale who said that the team was starting to make the extra pass and think the game differently because of Nadav. Little did we know at that point...

 

[Hoophound]

From my memory, that was the first game that we looked legit. We were pressing effectively and the Nadav influence had started to take over. I know I went back and watched that game a few years ago through Tcf and it was either Raftery or Vitale who said that the team was starting to make the extra pass and think the game differently because of Nadav. Little did we know at that point...

Absolutely. I am pretty sure we went to that game hoping for a win but expecting a loss. It was a shocking and exciting result.

 

[Waquoit]

We played the Russian National team in preseason and their coach said UConn the best team they played on that tour. They had played UNLV, I thought he was just being diplomatic.

 

[alexd]

The Wake game was in December of 1991. Two seasons after The Dream Season

Correct...Dream season was 1989/90. The Burrell/Rodney Rogers play was Dec. 1991.

 

[Dogdeacon]

I saw UConn play NC State in what I'm pretty sure was the ACC BE Challenge. Must have been early 1990s in NC State's old building.

I was at that game too, probably December 92. Cup Cormier had the best game of his UConn career. I don't think it was BE-ACC challenge though as those were doubleheaders & the tiny old NC State arena wouldn't make the cut. Also pretty sure a day game on a weekend.

I did go to the BE-ACC challenge at the Dean Dome a couple years earlier, we had a hopeful sign calling the place the not Dean but Chris Smith Dome. Didn't pan out.

 

[boog204]

I was at that game too, probably December 92. Cup Cormier had the best game of his UConn career. I don't think it was BE-ACC challenge though as those were doubleheaders & the tiny old NC State arena wouldn't make the cut. Also pretty sure a day game on a weekend.

I did go to the BE-ACC challenge at the Dean Dome a couple years earlier, we had a hopeful sign calling the place the not Dean but Chris Smith Dome. Didn't pan out.

Nope that was just an OOC game... Cup was fantastic the first few games of the year and KO was not. There were lots of bench KO ideas at that point.

 

[HuskyHawk]

The Wake game was the one where Rodney Rogers was going to shoot an outside jumper and saw Scotty Burrell running out of control to shut it down. Rogers pulled the ball down and started a dribble with his body between Burrell and the ball. Burrell jumped, literally leapfrogged Rogers and came down on Roberts' arm between Rogers and the ball. When no whistle blew (God knows if that's a foul if you contact a dribblers arm with your crotch because it is physically impossible so there doesn't have to be a rule on it), Burrell just took off with the ball and Tomahawked at the other end. If you didn't see it it's hard to even imagine it.

If you didn't see him you do not understand how athletic Scott Burrell was pre-injuries.

I remember that. Amazing. Incredible that he was probably better at baseball, and maybe at QB. That throw to Tate against Clemson was no accident.

 

[BlueDogs]

Burrell to me was one of those magical players that turned the program into something special by pure effort and energy. One of my all time favorites.

 

[cohenzone]

That was awesome- Burrell was so athletic. I remember rewatching that over and over with amazement.

It happened right in front of me and it was incredible. And Rogers is about 6’6”. pretty big even a little leaning down and Burrell’s reaction was instantaneous. One of the “wow” moments in UConn sports history. Scotty of course owns one of the others, also against an ACC team, the full court pass that led to the shot that made Tate George an NBA draft pick.

 

[Vuce]

I did go to the BE-ACC challenge at the Dean Dome a couple years earlier, we had a hopeful sign calling the place the not Dean but Chris Smith Dome. Didn't pan out.

I made a road trip to this game as a student with a few friends. Toured the Dook campus too. Fun time but yeah the game didn’t turn in our favor.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

From my memory, that was the first game that we looked legit. We were pressing effectively and the Nadav influence had started to take over. I know I went back and watched that game a few years ago through Tcf and it was either Raftery or Vitale who said that the team was starting to make the extra pass and think the game differently because of Nadav. Little did we know at that point...

We try to tell younger people on the Boneyard how good Nadav was and its usually met by a glaze.
He is the single season steal leader by an enormous margin.
That team had 500 steals. Largely because the year he had but the cast wasn’t too shabby either. He averaged 5 steals a game , Tate , Smith , and Burrell were around 3. I think I’m missing someone.
For a prospective the next closest team is in the low 300’s.
They were a pretty decent team offensively but in general their defense and specifically their press elevated them into another category.

 

[alexd]

We try to tell younger people on the Boneyard how good Nadav was and its usually met by a glaze.
He is the single season steal leader by an enormous margin.
That team had 500 steals. Largely because the year he had but the cast wasn’t too shabby either. He averaged 5 steals a game , Tate , Smith , and Burrell were around 3. I think I’m missing someone.
For a prospective the next closest team is in the low 300’s.
They were a pretty decent team offensively but in general their defense and specifically their press elevated them into another category.

1989/90 steals per game:
Henefeld 3.7
George 2.0
Burrell 1.9
Smith 1.7
Williams 1.0
Depriest 1.0
Gwynn 0.8
Sellers 0.7
Walker 0.5
Cyrulik 0.4
Pikiell 0.2

UConn shot .449 from the field that season and their opponents .434. Their 3PT% was almost exactly the same as their opponents....The winning came from the number of steals (double that of their opponents) and turnovers forced and the shot attempts they lead to. UConn took 379 more shots over their 37 games.

 

[Mr. Wonderful]

1989/90 steals per game:
Henefeld 3.7
George 2.0
Burrell 1.9
Smith 1.7
Williams 1.0
Depriest 1.0
Gwynn 0.8
Sellers 0.7
Walker 0.5
Cyrulik 0.4
Pikiell 0.2

UConn shot .449 from the field that season and their opponents .434. Their 3PT% was almost exactly the same as their opponents....The winning came from the number of steals (double that of their opponents) and turnovers forced and the shot attempts they lead to. UConn took 379 more shots over their 37 games.

Nada Henefeld set the NCAA Freshman record for steals against Boston College on February 17th. Think about that! He broke an NCAA record with 4 games left in the regular season. UConn would go on to play 11 more games. He didn't just break it, he obliterated it!

 

[Dogdeacon]

I made a road trip to this game as a student with a few friends. Toured the Dook campus too. Fun time but yeah the game didn’t turn in our favor.

I toured Dook as well. We might be able to tell if we were there at the exact same time...
Went to the Dook campus store, toured the clothing area. I held up a pair of kiddie dook shorts for 3-5 yr olds and yelled to my buddies across the store;
"HEY look, Bobby Hurley's underwear!"

 

[Vuce]

I toured Dook as well. We might be able to tell if we were there at the exact same time...
Went to the Dook campus store, toured the clothing area. I held up a pair of kiddie dook shorts for 3-5 yr olds and yelled to my buddies across the store;
"HEY look, Bobby Hurley's underwear!"

That was YOU?!

 

[Martin]

I toured Dook as well. We might be able to tell if we were there at the exact same time...
Went to the Dook campus store, toured the clothing area. I held up a pair of kiddie dook shorts for 3-5 yr olds and yelled to my buddies across the store;
"HEY look, Bobby Hurley's underwear!"

 

[seeya27]

What many forget about the Dream Team is the start of the season -- pre January -- did not show evidence that we had moved forward into a national contender. I remember a loss to some mediocre Texas team in Alaska, being destroyed by St. Johns in Queens and a loss to a very mediocre 'Nova team (I want to say Tom Gries was a huge, mediocre Center who killed us that night) at home. It was only in January that everything clicked and our transformation to a national program begun. Man, those were fun days.

The January week with wins over Syracuse and Georgetown in '89 was one of the most exhilarating week of my sports life. I literally was walking on air. It was similar 10 years later in the '99 Final Four.

What made both of those weeks so euphoric was we broke cbb barriers I thought were unattainable for my little alma mater. I covered the move to The Big East for Daily Campus but never imagined we were worthy of a national championship.

In my heart, while experiencing it all, I knew I was squarely living in "the good old days."

 

[boog204]

1989/90 steals per game:
Henefeld 3.7
George 2.0
Burrell 1.9
Smith 1.7
Williams 1.0
Depriest 1.0
Gwynn 0.8
Sellers 0.7
Walker 0.5
Cyrulik 0.4
Pikiell 0.2

UConn shot .449 from the field that season and their opponents .434. Their 3PT% was almost exactly the same as their opponents....The winning came from the number of steals (double that of their opponents) and turnovers forced and the shot attempts they lead to. UConn took 379 more shots over their 37 games.

It's funny, because the pressing D was really just a 1-2 year thing. We employed a few different types of presses those years, the 2-2-1, an aggressive man, a halfcourt trap, and I think a trapping 1-2-1-1 as well. But the next year we were down into the low 300s in steals and the following year we more or less broke even w/ our opponents. We then ran a fairly passive 2-2-1 for most of JCs run until he essentially abandoned it all together.

Yet, forever UConn fans have clamored for us to "bring back" the press. It was an anomaly in large part to having a player who was twice as smart as everyone else on the court in Nadav, a big point guard in Tate, and the most athletic player on the court at all times in Burrell. People forget that Burrell was right on pace to challenge Nadav's steal record the next year. SB had 112 in 31 games, Nadav 138 in 37.

 

[willie99]

I remember Burrell's play, can still see it, but don't remember anything about the opposing player or the opposition or even if we won